In Houston, online reputation management acts like a filter, catching the worst attacks on a company before they have a chance to do serious harm. Fighting back against people making false claims and bombing bad reviews against a company requires an aggressive, but smart approach. And it usually requires several approaches. Just ignoring the problem hoping it goes away and pretending that people aren’t talking is bad business. In today’s social media society, even enormous corporations can’t hide from the piercing glare of the consumer.
How can a Houston area online reputation management company help a business?
Too many companies ignore popular opinion until it has gone sour on them, and that’s taking a huge gamble. Bad reviews can be managed, but if someone decides to publish their frustration on a prominent blog, or raise enough attention to draw the media, things can quickly get rough for a business. People in the Bayou City have plenty of options when looking for a service, so a business that acts too loosely with its brand will see its business go elsewhere. This is particularly true for industries that service customers directly, like restaurants, shops, or hotels. Houston is home to hundreds and hundreds of each, so a single poorly conceived tweet or bad review can put a company way behind.
To be clear, a Houston based online reputation management firm is not going to silence critics. Legally and ethically, people have a right to their opinion, and any service that promises to quiet all criticism is either lying or willing to engage in unlawful activity. What a reputable service can do is threefold and includes:
- Social media monitoring. Tracking public opinion is not just setting up a Facebook and Twitter account and responding to the occasion message. Proper social media monitoring means searching out conversation regarding the company and figuring out what people are saying. This information can be used to better craft the company’s message through social media and dispel any frustration regarding the business before it has a chance to get out of hand. In the Bayou City, a business generates an image quickly, so a professional firm should craft social media messages for Houstonians.
- Aggressive SEO. The worst thing a company can do is ignore bad reviews and criticism. If they do, such criticism can quickly dominate search rankings associated with the business. This is especially true when news media latches on to a bad public relations moment. However, even pushing this criticism back to the second page of Google results is somewhat akin to eliminating it completely. Strong SEO practices will help elevate the message the company wants to send, and drown out the attackers.
- Fighting fire with fire, when necessary. Occasionally, an individual with a grudge or a competitor will make statements against the company that are demonstrably false or filled with defamatory language. An experienced firm will be able to identify these threats, trace them in some cases, and recommend to their clients when it is time to consider legal action.
Perhaps the most important resource a company has is trust, and when it is damaged, it’s extremely hard to get it back. With an experienced firm monitoring and correcting public opinion on behalf of a company, that trust will be well preserved.
